Definition
Nowadays, the terms self-consciousness and self-awareness are used interchangeably, but according to wikipedia self-consciousness is a “preoccupation with oneself”, while self-awareness is “the awareness one exists as an individual being”. I would like write without distinction, so both terms so they we will be used synonymously.
Problem with self-consciousness
I believe that self-consciousness is product (or by-product) of evolution. It is not hard to imagine that it is extremely “useful” when to comes to any social behavior. I think it may be
that self-consciousness was developed to help better interact with other individuals of our specie and therefore maximize the chance of survival.
But there are some drawbacks. The common unpleasant situation for many students is to give presentation. When focus of attention is shifted towards yourself, you can almost feel everyone stare. Definitely you feel self-conscious. The problem is that common reaction to this sort of situation is stress. And one of stress responses is adrenaline shot, which is not helpful at all.
To be more specific. Some high levels of adrenaline causes brain to cease functioning in a way that allows to think clearly. And that’s the causes the effect which we call: ‘miałem pustkę w głowie” ;)
Are we the only self-aware beings?
Schopenhauer believed that only humans are self-consciousness and can make choice between affirming or denying the will. However recent studies shows that this statement is false. There is evidence that some apes, dolphins and elephants have capacity to be self-aware. Bear in mind that those animals use some sort of social structure. For example it is proven that dolphins have names which they use to identify each other and elephants have some kind of burial rites.
Despite last centaury advances in science, the human brain is still mystery to ourselves and many more researches have to be conducted until we gain suitable level of knowledge to fully understand it, and therefore to fully understand ourselves.
Thank you for reading and attention.
According to this video I remain silent and just thank you for topic.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BomFUJF856w
I agree that self-consciousness could be related to evolution.
ReplyDeleteSome scientists believe that taking psychoactive plants and fungus by ancient cultures could significantly speed up process of creating ability to abstract thinking and empathize, which are closely related to social behavior.
I think the statement about self-awareness of animals is still rather a hypothesis, as well as that it is a result of evolution. Anyway, I love the cartoon from the first comment ;-)
ReplyDeleteAs far as I am concerned, I definitely disagree that stress is not helpful. For everyone word "stress" means different things. It is a multifaceted responce that includes changes in perception, emotion, behaviour and even in physical functioning. Some think of it as a good , other as a bad.
ReplyDeleteThe true is that we all need a certain amount of stress to keep as alive although too much becomes harmful to us.
@s3515
ReplyDeletehehe I like the approach. In other words people that are smoking marihuana can potentially push humankind to a next level ;-)
As for stress. In my opinion (at least in my case) it causes people to think too much about things that do not matter at the moment which leads to loosing focus.
Try stomach ulcer if you want fully understand the meaning of stress.
ReplyDeleteThat’s the point. Most people don’t really know how the brain works. Even when the humanity doesn’t possess the complete knowledge there’s still something everyone of us should be aware of. After that people would better understand themselves and each other and life would became easier.
ReplyDeleteGreat, but you're wrong. I believe dogs are self-aware too and lives in complicated social structure. In nature when dogs lives in herds there is strong and complicated herd structure.
ReplyDeleteDogs are only animal which can be so close to human, not orangutan but dog:P
Andrzej:
ReplyDeleteYeah, and why they are chasing their own tails.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__djcHaqpj4
As I mention before understanding of brain is necessary for our evolution in many areas... IT etc.
ReplyDeleteCommenting at this point (February) gives me a powerful adrenaline shot. Seriously It is so late, that I’am totally stressed that this is no use. If a brain is a complex collection of connections between rather simple cells, what if the key to consciousness is connections? That could mean that one time, when internet will grow bigger, it could become self – aware.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Marta - stress plays into my hands - I can think clear and everything is arranged in right order.
ReplyDeleteAnd about animals - hmm.. I am sceptic about this because we do not know our brain so how can we know animals brain???